Q & A with Democratic Candidate for Lt. Governor Thomas Castillo

This a brief, much edited excerpt from a lengthy interview I conducted with Thomas Castillo, who will be running for Lt. Gov. of Illinois in 2010. He's a man who wants to make a difference. Check out his website www.Tom4gov.org.

Over breakfast, Chicago electrician Thomas Castillo dishes about why he decided to run for Lt. Gov. of Illinois in 2010 and how his “good looking” wife will help his chances.
Q: Have you ever run for office before?
A: No I haven’t, but I’ve always been interested in politics.
Q: What made you want to run for office?
A: I got sick of complaining and I decided to do something about it. When the $700 billion bailout came out, I was so enraged from it that I was actually shouting out loud. I couldn’t sleep that night so I got up and went to my computer and started looking into public office. I put all my thoughts and feelings down, came up with my campaign slogan, “Re-instilling common sense in government” and everything just flowed out. I spoke from my heart and www.Tom4gov.org is a result of that.
Q: How do you officially run? Do you just announce it?
A: Yes. I went to the State Board of Elections and registered. To get on the ballot (for the primary election) you need 5,000 signatures, which is really nothing.
Q: Do you have any signatures collected yet?
A: No, we aren’t allowed to collect any signatures until August and then we have to file them by October.
Q: When is the primary election?
A: Feb. 2 2010
Q: What do you think you’re chances are to win the primary?
A: I think I have an excellent chance. Four years ago Pat Quinn won (the primary election) with 472,000 votes. There are over 880,000 union members in the state of Illinois. I figure if I can get half of my brothers and sisters to believe in me and my plan for Illinois, I’d be right there.
Q: You’re an electrician by trade and a union member.
A: Yes, I’m part of IBEW Local #134. I’ve been an electrician for 12 years now. But that isn’t what I want to do for the rest of my life. It doesn’t make me happy. What really makes me happy is to make a difference in people’s lives.
Q: How do you think you will make yourself stand out? Obviously a lot of people haven’t heard of you.
A: Well I stand out right off the bat because I’m young, I have a good looking wife and I actually have a plan. I have a vision for Illinois and it’s something that people can look at. If we stand together as one people, then like an army of ants we can do amazing things. Sure, some people are going to critique it and say “He’s crazy.” But you know what? This is an agenda. I don’t just have “stuff” that I want to get done. I physically have a way to do it.
Q: What does your wife think? Did you discuss it with her before you decided to run?
A: She thought I was nuts. She didn’t want me to do it. I said “Babe, I know you don’t want me to but this is something that I have to do. Nothing might come out of it, but at least I tried.”
Q: Do you think people will be afraid to vote for a democratic governor because of what just happened with Blagojevich?
A: No, Cook County and the surrounding cities are a real deep shade of blue.
Q: On your website you say you want to put a cap on business tax and ban the leasing of public assets. Can you expand on that?
A: I don’t understand why taxes keep going up. We have more people paying taxes each year because the population is growing. We outnumber the people retiring. Cook County is losing money because businesses are moving. To make up for lost revenue, they’re leasing public assets like our parking meters. They’re charging $6.50 an hour to park on a city street that the tax payers pay to maintain. Where is going to end?
Q: You want to eliminate property taxes for seniors age 72 and over and cover 50 percent of the co-pay for seniors and veteran’s medication. How do you plan to do this?
A: By lowering business tax and encouraging people to set up shop in Illinois. This along with adding a 10 cent transaction fee on all Chicago stock trades. That’s a way to bring over a billion dollars a year into Illinois without raising taxes.
Q: Do you think you can get people to go for that?
A: Yes. People love the idea. Whether they trade one share or one billion shares it’s only 10 cents. A lot of seniors have to choose between paying bills and paying for their medication. We should be allowed to live our last days in dignity. Our veterans, they put their life on the line. They put their money where America’s mouth was and for us to turn our back on them, it’s just atrocious. I have a lot of veterans in my family. It’s very important to me.
Q: You said you want to put economics and civics lessons into grammar schools. Can you expand on that?
A: We need to teach our children economics. Minimum payments should only be paid at severe times of distress. That’s why were in the trouble that we’re in, because people said “Okay, you can borrow more than your house is worth. We’ll give you an extra $10,000.” Also, civics; human nature is to be greedy. We need to teach our children that there are people out there who want to control you, who will take your money. We need to teach our children how fragile our rights are and that if we don’t take care of them and nurture them they can be gone in a couple of generations.
Q: You grew up on the South Side of Chicago. Are you a Sox fan?
A: I’m a football fan. A lot of people give me a hard time. I would say maybe 51 percent Sox just because they’re more of the underdog. I like the colors of the Cubs better, the blue and red.
Q: That’s very patriotic of you.